MISSION REPORT: STS-3 - E A S I E S T AND KCSI N82-3 1401

SUCCESSFUL TEST MISSION ( N a t i o n a l

Aeronautics and Space A d m i n i s t r a t i o n ) 4 p
WASA
National Aeronautics and
CSCL 22A
H2/16
Uncias
32995
Space Administration

Mission Re
MR-003

STS-3—Busiest and Most Successful Test

Mission

Manipulator arm swings Plasma Diagnostics Package over side of Columbia.

At 11:05 a.m. EST, March 30, 1982, NASA astronauts
Jack R. Lousma (commander) and C. Gordon Fullerton
(pilot) landed their Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia on
Northrup Air Strip at the White Sands Test Facility, New
Mexico. This was Columbia's third orbital test flight.
STS-3 lasted more than eight days, made 129 Earth
orbits, and covered a distance of 6.24 million kilometers
(3.9 million miles). It was not only the longest but also
the busiest and most demanding of the Space Shuttle
test missions. Lousma and Fullerton accomplished
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BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPH
nearly everything they set out to do. The third mission
of NASA's Space Transportation System (STS) proved
a major stride toward an operational spacecraft.
Why Columbia Landed at White Sands
Rogers Dry Lake bed in California's Mojave Desert
(Edwards Air Force Base) is the primary landing field
for the shuttle orbital flight tests. STS-1 and STS-2
missions landed there. But heavy rains had drenched
the dry lake. Nobody could predict how long it would
take the Edwards runway surface to be dry enough to
support Columbia's landing.
The best alternate landing site—Northrup Air Strip at
White Sands, New Mexico—was chosen for the STS-3
landing. Like Edwards, Northrup Air Strip is a hard-
packed desert floor.
The Northrup strip was sufficiently long and wide to
provide the margin of safety needed until the
characteristics of Columbia's aerodynamics and its new
computer-based automatic landing system are fully
tested.
Plans called for the STS-3 landing at 2:27 p.m. EST,
March 29, 1982. But as Lousma and Fullerton were
preparing their spacecraft for entry into the atmosphere
on March 29, wind velocities rose sharply at White
Sands. John W. Young, commander of
STS-1—Columbia's maiden flight—piloted a jet aircraft
over the landing area. He measured winds much too
high for Columbia and observed that a severe sand
storm had cut visibility at the landing site to near zero.
He radioed Mission Control: "I think we ought to knock
this off." "We concur," Mission Control replied.
Just 39 minutes minutes before they were scheduled
to fire their braking rockets to descend from orbit,
Lousma and Fullerton were "waved off." Lousma landed
Columbia the next morning under clear skies and
acceptable wind conditions.
Moving the landing site from Edwards to White
Sands meant that facilities for processing Columbia
after landing had to be set up at White Sands.
Equipment and technicians needed for the landing were
transported from Edwards to White Sands in 38 railroad
cars forming two special trains.
', PASSIVE TAIL TO SUN
THERMAL CONTROL (Payload Bay to Space)
(THREE 10 HOUR PERIODS) (ONE 30 HOUR PERIOD)
STS-3 Thermal Test Attitudes ORIGINAL PAGi iS
OF POOR QUALITY
Preparations for Launch Nearly Perfect
Columbia's third mission into space began about four
months after completion of its second mission—
substantially less than the seven months between
STS-1 and STS-2. The STS-3 launch was on the day
originally scheduled, March 22, 1982—a first for the
Shuttle. It was delayed just one hour from the planned
10 a.m.—to 11 a.m. EST. This slippage was
occasioned by the failure of a heater on a nitrogen gas
purge line.
Columbia Put Through Exacting Tests
A major STS-3 goal was thermal testing of Columbia.
First the tail was pointed toward the Sun for 28 hours;
later the nose for 80 hours; and finally, the top of the
ship with cargo bay doors open, for 28 hours. Between
these exposures in various flight attitudes, Lousma and
Fullerton rolled the craft for periods of from 3 to 10
hours' duration to equalize external temperatures. While
subjecting Columbia to thermal stresses, they opened
and closed the payload bay doors. Following prolonged
exposure of the open bay doors to intense cold away
from the Sun, the doors wouldn't latch properly after
closing. Latching was completed normally after Sun
exposure heated the top of the cargo bay.
The crew started and restarted Columbia's orbital
maneuvering engines and operated the huge
mechanical arm called the Remote Manipulator System.
They developed considerable expertise in using the
manipulator arm to grasp an experiment called a
Plasma Diagnostic Package. They moved this unit
around outside and inside the payload bay and returned
it to its stowed position.
PAYLOAD BAY NOSE TO SUN
TO SUN
(ONE 26 HOUR PERIOD) (ONE 80 HOUR PERIOD)
 These maneuvers were accomplished despite a short
circuit which blacked out the manipulator arm's
television wrist camera. They guided the 15-meter
(50-foot) arm using only its elbow camera. This marked
the first time the arm had taken cargo out of the
spacecraft.
Lousma and Fullerton also fired their attitude-control
rockets to roll and pitch Columbia while they used the
manipulator arm. These movements caused no
noticeable arm tremors or loss of grip. As they berthed
the arm for the last time, Fullerton called it a "fantastic
piece of machinery."
Space Science Mission Successful
The mission's space science segment, called OSS-1,
provided abundant data for scientists. This project was
considered a "pathfinder" effort because many of the
experiments were designed to gather information about
Columbia's interactions with the space environment—to
set guidelines for future experiments. The Plasma
Diagnostic Package was designed to find out how the
movement and the electrical and magnetic fields
generated by Columbia affected plasma (ionized gases)
and magnetic field lines in space.
Other experiments were designed to indicate how
outgassing of Orbiter attitude-control propellants and
water dumps could affect measurements of celestial
and terrestrial objects.
Another experiment was carried to provide
information about buildup of condensation on
instruments, from volatile materials expended by
Columbia. Tests of the dynamic, acoustic, and thermal
properties of Columbia's environment also were made.
On this mission Columbia carried experiments to
monitor X-rays emitted by solar flares; to gain more
information about formation of lignin (the stiffening
substance in plant stems) in the nearly gravity-free
environment of space; to study the relationship of plant
height in space to initial soil moisture content; to gather
information about the frequency, mass, and chemistry
of micrometeorites; and to find how flying insects
behave in a nearly gravity-free environment.
Among the insects that Lousma and Fullerton
photgraphed with a motion picture camera were
honeybees and velvet bean caterpillar moths. This
experiment was submitted by Todd E. Nelson, a
student at Southland High School in Adams, Minnesota.
His experiment was one of 10 national winners from
1,500 proposed experiments submitted in the
1980-1981 NASA/National Science Teachers
Association Shuttle Student Involvement Project
competition. The NASA/NSTA project was designed to
stimulate the study of science and technology in the
nation's secondary schools.
To prepare for future low cost science experiments in
space, a payload canister for small, self-contained
experiments called "getaway specials" was checked
out. Getaway specials are experiments developed by
industry, schools, individuals, and other organizations
and are scheduled for flight on a space-available basis.
Medical and Materials-Processing
Experiments
One experiment flown on the STS-3 mission employed
electrophoresis to separate kidney and blood cells.
Electrophoresis uses a small electric charge to separate
a solution containing different types of cells. On Earth,
the electrophoresis process produces undesirable
convection currents in fluids. These currents tend to
prevent separation of cells closely resembling one
another. The electrophoresis experiment could lead to
commercial processing of chemicals and
Pharmaceuticals in space.
A materials-processing experiment of STS-3 involved
the development of uniform-sized latex spheres.
Experimenters wanted to determine whether
weightlessness can help produce uniform latex spheres
of 20-micron diameter, from molten latex suspended in
an emulsifier. These spheres are used to measure
pores in the intestines and for eye research. They may
also be used to convey drugs and isotopes for
treatment of cancerous tumors.
Mission's Problems Relatively Minor
STS-3 was the third of four planned orbital test flights,
designed to eliminate as many difficulties as possible
before the Shuttle goes operational. In STS-3 some
problems proved bothersome but most turned out to be
of minor concern. About seven minutes after launch, a
sensor flashed a message that one of the three
Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) on Columbia was
overheating. The APUs swivel the rocket engines
during the launch phase and operate the rudder and
elevens during the return through the atmosphere when
the Shuttle flies as an aircraft.
The Shuttle Orbiter can operate adequately using
only two of its three APUs during the ascent and
re-entry modes. They are not used in orbit. During
return to Earth on this mission all three units operated
properly.
On March 23 Lousma and Fullerton discovered that
Columbia had lost more than 35 of its 31,000
heat-protection tiles. Loss of the tiles did not endanger
the spacecraft during re-entry, when temperatures
reached more than 2,000 degrees F. The tiles became
detached during launch. Engineers will continue
replacement procedures designed to prevent tile
separation during the fourth test mission. An inspection
of Columbia after it landed revealed that it had lost 36
full tiles and parts of 19 others.
Adjustments Ease Crew's Problems
Early in the mission the crew encountered space
sickness, a balky toilet, and temperature control and
radio static problems that interfered with sleep. A
thermostat difficulty kept the cabin either too warm or
too chilly. Whenever Columbia passed over a certain
area of Asia, the crew's radio headsets crackled with
static, waking the astronauts if they were attempting to
sleep. The static has been attributed to a powerful
radar station. Most troubles were corrected by the third
day and the astronauts went about their tasks in good
health and high spirits for the remainder of the
eight-day mission.
On March 26, three of the communications links
between Columbia and Earth were lost due to
transponder malfunctions. Besides the remaining high
power communications link, a backup FM radio and
UHF voice circuit were still available. Loss of the radio
links reduced data transmission from Columbia to the
ground but did not threaten safety.
Launch of STS-3.
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All personnel connected with the flight felt the STS-3
mission performed its assigned tasks admirably,
achieving an important step toward making Shuttle
operational. Lousma and Fullerton agreed in summing
up Columbia's third flight:
Columbia "performed magnificently."—Lousma
"It's an unbelievably beautiful flying
machine."—Fullerton